


Re-imagining the series

by JackieSBlake7



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-17 23:47:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7291003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackieSBlake7/pseuds/JackieSBlake7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This arose, a while back, out of discussions on one of the B7 email groups</p>
            </blockquote>





	Re-imagining the series

The original Blakes Seven series was a product of its time and its format: originally two series after which the actors would be allowed to leave, then a third series, followed by a fourth series added as an afterthought, with a number of scriptwriters and sometimes episodes written on an ad hoc basis. There are the constraints of the format - TV broadcasts alone (along with a few books and magazines).  
If there had been planning from the beginning some things might have been done differently - perhaps passing mentions of Orac-an-entity and 'things happening' with the computer systems (arising from the gradual takeover of Star One); possibly Anna Grant/Sula Chesku is deliberately placed in certain scenes prior to her actual identification; likewise the identity of Commissioner Sleer/Servalan (and, if a GP thread is included, who 'Bounty Hunter' actually is). 

If the series had been written now there might well be different emphases (not least because some of the tropes are now over-familiar). Orac would probably be something of a different construct (now that portable computers with access to the internet are readily available). Given that internet-story-websites, computer games and other means of interaction, and GGI, exist, it would be possible to have a far more complex storyverse. A more diverse range of participants and narrator viewpoints would be possible - and the main narrator group could, on occasion, be only bit-players in a story

Direct copying/paralleling of the original series would probably not work (for all the obvious reasons) - though there might well be some reworkings.

Assuming four series, as with the original: 

1) Extent of Empire - setting the context in which the various parties operate, and why they are opposed to each other/cooperating; different attitudes towards the Federation and other bodies. The weakness of the Federation - it relies upon military power rather than soft power scientific/technical advances are occurring elsewhere, and these are treated as being more trivial than they actually are. The principal emphasis 'strong control' and suppression of dissent. 'Rebels, criminals, and other nuisances' are exported to the outskirts of its domains: keeping them out of mischief and letting 'rebels' discover the practicalities of administration of even a planet.   
There are, also, various factions within the administration - reformers of various kinds, those who think technology gaps may become a problem etc.   
Some explanation is given for the battle the London encounters is given - possibly the route to Cygnus Alpha crosses an area of uncertain ownership. There is also mention of 'the central computers having another glitch' (assumed to be the problems of communication and decades of accumulated glitches).  
Blake and his group end up on what becomes named the Liberator - which becomes the occasional home of other opposition groups, neutrals and others, with some evidence of different agendas (and also with other groups).   
Zen to some extent follows its own purposes - exploring the galaxy and acquiring information. (It is studying the rebels/the Federation.).  
The Liberator group decide that 'mercy missions and helping the independent planets' will benefit their cause.  
Sarkoff reinstalled is not the ruler either the Federation or Blake expect.  
Orac #chooses# to summon the Liberator - because it does not wish to be taken by Servalan 'administration being a gross misuse of its capabilities' - but Zen's mission is one it finds suitable. However Ensor has programmed Orac to act against the Federation as is and Servalan in particular (expecting that she will double-cross him) 'and, insofar as you have and understand the concept of an imagination, use it.'  
Blake is forced to develop a coherent plan.

2) The Move to Federation's End - the rebels (not all united) and the alien invasion (and possibly 'other parties outside the Federation' attempting to manipulate the situation to their own advantage, whether of positive, negative or neutral intent). To some extent the system is a facade - the Federation administrators have to work with the local rulers, other local leaders are willing to provide allegiance-for-rewards to whichever spaceship happens to be visiting, and Spaceworld has not been discovered by the Federation authorities.  
Orac starts to demand sentient-construct rights - and against the destruction of the central computers.

3) Aftermath - the Federation attempts to regroup and retake what has been lost; the rebels face up to the realities of taking power or not achieving it. Smaller but more technically advanced groupings and power-holders exert greater influence or create their own local regional structures (Teal-Vandor; Freedom City as an entrepot, Zukan and collegues etc). Some of the rebels take office - but realise they are not the administrators necessary. Those within the administration following various policies (Anna Grant/Sula Chesku etc)  
President Servalan finds she is less powerful than she thinks - the President is more for show than policy.  
The Liberator group develop a new project (other than surviving, and the search for Blake).

4) The Federation on the personal scale/local impacts. As in our history 'grand alliances' against a common opponent tend to break up once the threat has been dealt with, and the break-up of the Soviet Union the opposition movements have fractures, and local leaders emerge (Zukan and others). As secondary plotlines - Servalan and Sleer; the person known as Arlen and the activities of the 'Gauda Prime Group (and perhaps 'some group of rebels or reformers' deciding that a sometime bounty hunter is not the best person to promote as a ruler).


End file.
